Breastfeeding to sleep

[Albie0815]

Has anyone had any experience with their little on only feeding to sleep? My boy is 5 weeks old today. I am starting to be able to differentiate between a cry when he's hungry and a cry when he's tired, however, I can't seem to get him to nap without feeding him first. I can rock him to sleep, but he doesn't seem to get deep enough to put him down, and always wakes up immediately! But if I feed him and he doses off to sleep on the breast and then I put him down, he stays down.

I've read that by now they should be feeding around every three hours. So if he needs to nap in that time and he is clearly crying because of tiredness not because of hunger, I'm not sure how I'm meant to get him to sleep without just allowing him to sleep on me! Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks in advance.

Definitely feed him to sleep! And don't worry about times of feeds. 3 hours is an average minimum. Enjoy your lovely baby.

He's a tiny baby. He is supposed to be fed to sleep. There are hormones in your milk that make him sleepy. It is biologically normal for him to want to sleep on you. He feels safe there. Just go with it and stop worrying about it.

My 15 week old is still being fed to sleep unless we’re out in the buggy or car. He sleeps better and seems to feel more relaxed. I wouldn’t worry OP

Our DS is 11 weeks and does the same. We have found that a dummy sometimes helps though.

Thank you everyone for your responses already, its comforting to hear that it works for others! I will continue doing what I'm doing and enjoy the beautiful cuddles I get in return.

My concerns are more around when I won't be there to feed him to sleep. We have introduced a bottle of expressed milk very occasionally just so he is used to it, but it doesn't seem to have the same effect as feeding on my breast. So if my husband is alone with him I worry about how he'll manage to get him to sleep, both for baby's sake and my husband's! He's already feeling a little disheartened that he is unable to comfort him in the same way that I can. My first born didn't latch properly and so I had to move to formula relatively quickly. He was always able to be rocked to sleep and lay down after well so we never had this the first time round and so my husband was able to look after him alone without worrying about how he'll cope!!

I've just fed my almost 10 month old to sleep! Thats what its designed for, don't worry

Google the third trimester. Babies are supposed to be fed on demand - the 3 hour thing is outdated and generally a load of crap. Some might, a lot don't. Don't pay too much attention to how long they feed for or how often them feed, it's really not important so long as nappies are normal and he's gaining weight. Your DH will learn his own way of comforting him in time.

It's the prolactin in breast milk that induces sleep and you produce more of it in the evenings. When you store your milk make sure you label it with the time it was produced so that you can give baby evening milk before bed.

Feeding to sleep is totally normal by the way. I still do it 20 months on and am glad of the ability to do so.

Feed him to sleep! I fed mine to sleep for at least 2 years. They eventually just fall asleep by themselves.

I tried not to feed to sleep, though of course it happened. Daytimes they just seemed to sleep wherever they were. But I always tried to put my babies down when sleepy, not asleep, at night. Then left! My son took to that quickly but my daughter who had reflux was difficult until she was three months when it seemed to click. I breast fed my son until five months when I returned to work and daughter for a year when she stopped wanting to.
I did have a routine and whether it was my expectation or the babies it was feeding every three hours or so. Again my daughter was more difficult but discovering her thumb helped a lot.

Ah the times I have wished I could still feed my 2 year old to sleep...

It's totally natural OP and it's very early days so don't worry about what you're going to do in the future.

FWIW, I breastfed until a year and my DD never went as long as three hours without a feed during the day. She was a proper little snacker.

Don't worry about shoulds. Feed your baby to sleep and enjoy the tiny snores!

My four month old feeds more frequently than every 3 hours and always has done. Sometimes he’s fed to sleep others not.

I’m still feeding my 14 month to sleep. She’s now dropping off as I write this. I hand on heart didn’t think I’d still be feeding at this point, let alone feeding her to sleep. She didn’t go longer than 3 hours without a feed until we started weaning at 6 months. She now normally just has 3-4 feeds in a 24 hour period.
She settles with her dad with cuddles if I’m not around and will sleep for hours at nursery. I worried a lot about nursery especially but really needn’t have. She obviously doesn’t need it, but it brings her comfort so I’m happy to go with it for now.

She’s my second and I completely ruined the early days with my eldest by stressing about everything and worrying if I was doing everything ‘right’ and not making a ‘rod’ for my back. It is so much easier and happier all round by not worrying about what I ‘should’ be doing and when and just meeting my child’s needs. Wish I knew that the first time round.

Thank you all for your supportive words. I will carry on enjoying my sleepy cuddles and worry about alternative ways of getting him to sleep later. I've attempted the putting him down when sleepy but awake but putting him down seems to make him more alert again!!

I will focus on that when he's older though, and for now be grateful that I have a way of getting him to sleep 😊